Kia America’s first NFT series dubbed the ‘Robo Dog’ has been officially launched on the Tezos blockchain network. As the name implies, the three-part NFT collection features the cute robot puppy ‘Robo Dog’ which is also Kia’s star for the Super Bowl 2022.
The ‘Robo Dog‘ initiative is facilitated by Kia America’s partnership with Sweet, an NFT platform based in New York City. The partners have affirmed that a larger percentage of the proceeds from the initiative will be donated to The Petfinder Foundation.
The Petfinder Foundation is an organization that is committed to finding permanent homes for in-need animals. Hence, the primary beneficiary of the Robo Dog initiative are animals looking to find their permanent homes via Petfinder.com.
Kia animal rescue
Kia being a vital component of this CSR project is making use of its resources to improve animal welfare in the United States. Kia America’s VP of marketing, Russell Wager, has affirmed that there’s been an increase in the number of homeless animals of late.
Apparently, this has been attributed to plenty of owners having to return to work since the pandemic. Hence, many have surrendered their pets to animal shelters across the country. As a result, the initiative is looking to help pets find permanent homes they truly deserve via Petfinder.com
The Collection
Since the 11th of February, 2022, the Robo Dog NFT launch has been following a strict schedule. So far, 10,000 Robo Dog Adoption Passes and six unique Robo Dog NFTs have been launched. Below is the schedule for the Robo Dog NFT launch;
February 11th:
The launch of 10,000 Robo Dog Adoption Pass NFTs which was released for free on sweet.io. Every collector of these passes will have presale access to one of the 10,000 Robo Dog NFTs on the 18th of February 2022.
February 13th:
The release of six art-inspired and one-of-a-kind Robo Dog NFTs with a starting bid of $300. The auction is said to run until noon ET on the 18th of February 2022. This means the auction coincides with the NFL’s 2002 Super Bowl LVI.
February 18th:
Lastly, the 10,000 doggos will be released on the NFT platform overlapping with the NBA All-Star weekend. At exactly 3 pm ET, individuals holding the Adoption Pass will have access to purchase pets of their choice at $20 each. Afterward, the public sale will commence at 7 pm ET, enabling individuals without adoption certificates to buy a Robo Dog.
Every Robo Dog NFT will feature a distinct set of characters that reflects the search preference on The Petfinder’s website. The characters will include age, breed, gender, color, size, and coat length. Both The Petfinder and Kia are hopeful that collections will find larger and older Robo Dog NFTs most desirable. This is because these pets usually find it difficult to find a permanent home.
The Petfinder Foundation
The partners, Sweet and Kia America agreed to donate 90% of the proceeds from the initiative to The Petfinder Foundation. A royalty of 10% is also included in the NFT smart contracts, meaning, the foundation will earn additional benefits from the Robo Dog NFTs secondary sale.
Russel believes that the importance of The Petfinder Foundation cannot be overemphasized especially as more people now turn their pets to animal shelters. He affirmed that the foundation, more than ever before, needs the resources to find many of these pets a permanent home. And evidently, Kia America is fully supporting the movement.